Favourite innovation that isn’t yours?  

Seeing Magic Leap launch a real product and, from a Kiwi perspective, I love what Sharesies is doing. 

Favourite innovation that is yours?

A chat-based product finder we are trialing for a retail client that helps you find a product instore and saves you walking up and down seven aisles!

Most interesting launch/trend/idea/building/product of the year?  

The confusion and hype around blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The potential of blockchain is immense, while the future of cryptocurrencies is less certain but amazing to watch.

Lamest launch/trend/idea/brand/building/product of the year?  

Hand downs the Juicero.

Most promising New Zealand company/companies?

Rocket Lab – it’s the stuff of Kiwi dreams!

Heroes?

?Taika Waititi. 

Villains?

Random surge pricing. 

Best stoush?

The English and Australians throwing words and shapes at each other during the Ashes.

Your own biggest success?  

Seeing my girls (5 and 7) realise they can do anything they want.

What’s the biggest mistake innovators/businesses will make in 2018?  

Faking authenticity and continuing to invest in traditional marketing and branding.

What do you expect to see in the next five years?

Mixed Reality and Voice UI becoming part of our daily lives.

What will be dead in the next five years?  

Cords and wires.

What should be invented and/or un-invented?

Uninvented – Adult scooters.

Invented – Personal transportation drones

Favourite book/TV show/podcast/album/website/magazine/story?

Book – Shoedog

TV Show – Shameless

Podcast – No such thing as a fish

Website – FT

Magazine – The New Yorker

Story – https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2017/11/29/presentation-ten-year-futures. 

What’s the one piece of tech would you have on a desert island?

Spotify & Sonos. 

Will the robots become sentient and kill us all? (asking for a friend )   

Possible, but improbable if the good people outnumber the bad people. 

How long before we have:  

Driverless cars: Globally, five years. In New Zealand it will be ten years

Flying cars: Never – flying pods on the other hand will be available in less than five years

Immortality: I read the other day that humans have peaked and it is all downhill from here

Cities that all look like Venice: 20 years

No planet to live on: Could be next year, but with a glass half full mentality, another 500 years

No animals farmed or eaten: By 2050 real meat will be a luxury and most of our protein will come from non-animal products

Non-human lovers: According to the Websummit the time is now

No cash: Already there

Fusion energy: Google says to make fusion happen, the atoms of hydrogen must be heated to very high temperatures (100 million degrees) – perhaps global warming can help with that

Universal basic income: When the robots decide to stop a human revolt

Chips implanted in our brains: 2020

Colonies on Mars: Whatever Elon says…

*****

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